Newspaper media reaches 16.5 million people – emma data

Newspaper media reaches 94% of all Australians, or 16.5 million people, with printed newspapers still commanding the largest share and digital readership growing at the fastest pace, today’s emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data for the 12 months to April 2015* has shown.

National and metro printed newspaper media reach 12.4 million people over a four week period, while community newspapers are firm favourites with Australians, with an audience of 7.9 million, or 44% of the population.

Printed newspaper media reaches seven in 10 people, or 3.4 million, aged under 30, with digital closing the gap at 65% of young people, or 3.2 million. While older demographics still prefer print, digital has a strong footprint among those aged 70+ at 990,000, or 47% of this demographic.

Digital newspaper media readership continues to grow, with PC and laptop readership still leading with an audience of 10.6 million, or 59% of the population. It was followed by mobile at 3 million, or 17% of people, and tablet at 2.7 million or 15% of people.

Mobile once again leads newspaper media readership growth, rising by 15% year on year, followed by table at 5% and PC/laptop at 4%. The digital readership growth was spearheaded by those aged under 25, up 12% year on year.

“The emma data clearly shows that newspaper media continues to reach nine in 10 Australians, who still consume the majority of their news and information from printed newspapers. The ability of newspaper media to inform and influence their audience is unrivalled and this is true for cities, regional and rural communities,” The Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands said.

The Sydney Morning Herald continues to lead with the highest cross-platform readership, 5.48 million readers, followed by TheDaily Telegraph on 4.48 million and the Herald Sun on 4.17 million.

The Herald Sun (M-F) leads in average issue readership, at 1.34 million, followed by The Sunday Telegraph (1.18 million), the Saturday Herald Sun (1.12 million), the Sunday Herald Sun (1.08 million) and the Monday to Friday edition of The Daily Telegraph (1.04 million).

Average issue readership April 2015

Weight of database: 12 Month Weight

emma Apr 15

Totals

[000]

Herald Sun (M-F Av)

1345.2

Sunday Telegraph

1189.6

Herald Sun (Sat)

1128.4

Sunday Herald Sun

1089.1

Daily Telegraph (M-F Av)

1041.6

Sunday Mail (QLD)

879.2

Daily Telegraph (Sat)

820.3

Sydney Morning Herald (Sat)

788.4

Sun-Herald

711.6

Sydney Morning Herald (M-F Av)

703.7

Courier-Mail (Sat)

663.2

Courier-Mail (M-F Av)

660.0

Weekend West

648.6

Weekend Australian

618.0

The Age (Sat)

603.4

West Australian (M-F Av)

601.7

The Age (M-F Av)

600.3

Sunday Times

500.2

Sunday Age

490.9

The Australian (M-F Av)

482.4

Sunday Mail (SA)

480.6

Saturday Advertiser

467.6

Adelaide Advertiser (M-F Av)

457.7

Financial Review (M-F Av)

293.5

Mercury on Saturday (Tas)

115.9

Financial Review (Weekend edition)

112.3

Mercury (Tas) (M-F Av)

107.7

The Saturday Paper

104.3

Sunday Tasmanian

100.5

Canberra Times (M-F Av)

99.2

Canberra Times (Sat)

98.9

Sunday Canberra Times

69.1

Northern Territory News (Sat)

69.0

Northern Territory News (M-F Av)

64.7

Sunday Territorian

41.2

* Source: emma, 12 months to April 2015. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to April 2014. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+, Nielsen Online Ratings, April 2015 and April 2014, people 14+ only.